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TMI Blog1981 (12) TMI 148X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pper strips worth Rs. 4,52,573. A question, therefore, had arisen in the course of the assessment as to what should be the appropriate rate of tax at which the turnover of sales of copper strips of Rs. 4,52,573 should be subjected to tax. The Sales Tax Officer concerned had found those sales to be covered by entry 27 of Schedule II, Part A, to the Gujarat Act, and therefore, levied sales tax on those sales at the rate of 5 per cent under the said Act. However, on scrutiny of the assessment record of the assessee-company, the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax was of the opinion that the strips of copper in question having width from 1" to 4' could not be validly subjected to tax under entry 27 of Schedule II, Part A, to the Gujarat Act inasmuch as the said entry did not specifically mention or refer to strips as one of the articles included therein. In the view of the Assistant Commissioner, therefore, the disputed sales would fall within the terms of residuary entry 13 of Schedule III to the said Act, and therefore, the sales of copper strips were chargeable to sales tax at the rate of 5 per cent and general sales tax at the rate of 3 per cent. He, therefore, revised the order ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n before this very Division Bench in Super Diamond Tools' case [1980] 46 STC 129. The Division Bench was concerned in that case with the question as to whether wire rods were included in the said entry 27. The assessee in that case approached the Commissioner of Sales Tax for determination of the rate of tax on the sale of wire rods under the two bills of 21st September, 1972. That application came. up for hearing before the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax who held that since entry 27 specifically enumerates bars and rods separately, wire rods could not be included in the entry and if the legislative intention had been otherwise the legislature would have specifically enumerated and included such articles in the entry by specifically providing for the same. The Deputy Commissioner failed to record a positive finding on the question of fact as to whether the articles in question were wire rods or not. The Tribunal in appeal held that wire rods could not be taken as covered by the term "rods". The Tribunal also failed to consider the question whether the articles there were in fact wire rods or not. In that context, the Division Bench, speaking through my learned brother P. D. Desai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ry, though 'rods' are specifically included. The fact that items like 'rods' and 'bars', which are broadly similar in character, are separately mentioned is not a circumstance which can deter a broad view being taken. 'Bars' and 'rods', howsoever slender might be the difference between the two, are different commercial articles and it was, therefore, necessary that they should be mentioned separately..." It is no doubt true that the Tribunal had not the benefit of this judgment when it decided the revision application of the assessee-company. Mr. Mody was, therefore, right when he urged that the impugned decision of the Tribunal is not according to the correct principles of interpretation and more particularly in the light of the decision of this Court in Super Diamond Tools' case [1980] 46 STC 129. The Tribunal has been impressed with the contention of the Government that since copper strips are not specifically enumerated in the entry and having regard to the distinct commercial characteristic of the articles in question, namely, the copper strips, the Assistant Commissioner was perfectly justified in revising the order of the Sales Tax Officer by holding that the articles of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the articles of non-ferrous metals and alloys. The Tribunal, in our opinion, with respect, overlooked the structure and tenor of entry 3 where, on the face of it, the legislative intent was manifest that all articles or goods of iron and steel were to be specifically and exhaustively enumerated. The indication of the legislative intent is to be found in the tenor of the entry which reads as under: "3. Iron and steel, that is to say,- (i)................................. (ii)................................ (iii).............................. (iv) Steel bars (rounds, rods, squares, flats, octagons and hexagons, plain and ribbed or twisted, in coil form as well as straight lengths); (v) Steel structurals (angles, joists, channels, tees, sheet piling sections, Z sections or any other rolled sections); (vi) Sheets, hoops, strips and skelp, both black and galvanised, hot and cold rolled, plain and corrugated, in all qualities, in straight lengths and in coil form, as rolled and in rivetted condition; ........................................." The Supreme Court in State of Tamil Nadu v. Pyare Lal Malhotra [1976] 37 STC 319 (SC) had considered the meaning of the e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or thickness as a bar would have it; but therefore, it does not mean that it would not be entitled to be included in the term "bar". What is the popular as well as metallurgical sense of the term "strip" is very succinctly stated in Corpur Juris Secundum, Vol. 83, page 547, as under: "Strip.-In popular usage as well as in the metallurgical sense, the noun 'strip' denotes a long, flat, and narrow piece, as contradistinguished from a long thin cylinder, like a wire; a narrow piece, comparatively long." In the metallurgical sense the noun "strip" is further defined as meaning "an ingot prepared for rolling into plates; a narrow flat bar of iron or steel". The dictionary meaning of the term "bar" in its generic sense is: "A straight piece of wood, metal, or other rigid material, long in proportion to its thickness." It also means: "A straight strip or stripe, narrow in proportion to its length, a broad line; e.g., of colour" (vide meanings I and 5 of The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. 1, page 660). Similarly the dictionary meaning of the word, "strip" in its generic sense is: "A narrow piece...... of approximately uniform breadth." In the metallurgical sense it means: "An ingo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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